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Poster: Earl B. Powell Date: Jan 30, 2017 5:04pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Dave's Picks 21 April 2 1973 Boston Music Hall

Agreed. But many of the arena's and halls they played were acoustic nightmares. In Rochester, where I saw them the most, we found several sweet spots, the best being on the floor, close to stage center about 30' out. The second best was at the very back of the hall. The rest of the joint was a booming mess of echoes.

Truth is, that the recordings of every show I attended are better, sometimes much better than the live sound I experienced. One reason I got off the bus in the 80's when I got into the tapes.

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Poster: ColdRain108 Date: Jan 31, 2017 11:05am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Dave's Picks 21 April 2 1973 Boston Music Hall

T'was why I liked the Greek Theater as much as I did. Dead center at the thrones (86-89) - like having the greatest headphones in the world.

Right against the rail from 81-85, they had monitors turned our way, sound was great, view was better, experience was the best.

MSG, Spectrum, Hartford Civic, Providence, Wooster, The mothership, all echo chambers. Trick was to find the sweet spot, other trick was to go to lots and lots of shows to figure out where that was. We used the "hand cupping" technique, cup hands behind ears to block out all the reflective sounds and the yabbering morons, worked really well at MSG.

I saw shows from the side of the stage, the back of the stage, the very top row, standing on chairs next to the sound board, among the tapers, in the hallway, etc...

Practice makes perfect.

Labor of love.